Max & Lina: Another Story of the Flock
by Scatty
Summary: This is the first Maximum Ride book rewritten in the point of view of a new character, Lina. Unfortunately, I'm a tad too lazy to finish it....


_Shortly after Jeb disappeared…._

I knocked on the door. Stepping back out of the light I folded my wings carefully behind my back so that they were invisible from the door. I heard the click of the door unlatching and saw someone hesitantly pushing it open. The someone was a girl of my age with light brown blonde-streaked hair. According to Jeb, this was probably Max. As the door opened wider I was awash in the light spilling from the doorway. When Max caught sight of me she jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking shocked and a little bit scared.

"M-My name's Lina," I replied shakily.

"How did you get up here? _Why _are you up here? Where have you come from?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I'm from the School. Jeb told me how to find you."

"Jeb?" She looked so shocked I was surprised she could manage words. "Wait a second," her eyes narrowed again. "Are you with the whitecoats?"

"N-No! I'd never!" oh, god, oh, god, this was not going well.

"Humph," Max still looked suspicious but she decided to say, "well, do explain. Jeb disappeared from us about a month ago."

"You see, there were more bird kids than you thought. Not six, but _twelve_. In the beginning. Us other six were kept in a totally separate wing. We were never supposed to know about each other. But Jeb changed all that. He came back for us, after he'd rescued you. He was too late for most of us. I was the only one left. Well, there was Jimmie, but he wasn't going to make it much longer. He was in so much pain. We couldn't move him. Jeb disappeared while he was bringing me back here. The last time I saw him we were almost to this house, spending the night in a remote little motel just over the Colorado-Utah border. Jeb had told me how to get here before, so it didn't take me too long to find you." I took a deep breath and watched her take it all in.

"So… do you know where Jeb is?" Max asked slowly.

"No. I'm sorry. He left without a trace." I replied truthfully and sadly.

"Oh. Well. How do you know all of this? Can you prove to me that you weren't just sent here by, like, the media or the whitecoats or something? Can you prove we haven't just been discovered?"

Silently, I unfurled one of my wings and twitched the tips of my feathers at her, waving.

"Oh, my god, oh, my god," she breathed, stepping backwards, "so you are one of us." I nodded. "Okay…come in." She turned and led the way into the house. I followed without saying a word. Once we were inside we sat down next to each other on a sofa in what I assumed was the living room. "Guys?" she called. "There's someone I want you to meet. Don't worry, she's one of us."

Five figures inched into the living room, looking equally cautious and curious. "Hi Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel," I murmured. All five of them stopped dead and stared at me. I saw Iggy, relying on hearing alone to "see" me.

"How…do you know our names?" asked Max. Oops.

"Jeb told me about you all and what you looked like," I said embarrassedly, looking down at my bare feet. Best not mention the other reason just now.

"Oh," said Max, "Well then, I'll introduce you formally. This is Fang. He's fourteen like me, but four months younger." One of the two older boys inclined his head. He had overlong black hair tied back in a sleek ponytail. Jeb's description had been accurate. "And this is Iggy. He's also fourteen, six months younger than me." Iggy stepped forward. He was tall, pale, and thin, with strawberry blonde hair. He nodded his head to me too. I didn't doubt that he could see more than any of us could. "Next is Nudge, she's eleven." The young African-American girl waved shyly at me. "Then Gazzy—he's eight." The Gasman grinned mischievously at me. "And lastly is—"

"Angel," I finished for her. Then I heard myself say "The little freak, right? With all those extra freak powers?" I was flabbergasted momentarily, but then it dawned on me. Before the others had time to react I was howling with laughter and choking, "G-Gazzy, don't do stuff like that! It's not f-f-funny! Max might've ripped my throat out!"

Gazzy started laughing too and soon there was comprehension. The whole room rang with our laughter. Finally it began to die down a bit and Fang had time to ask, "Who is she?"

The laughter stopped cold and suddenly everyone but Max was hostile. "Guys, guys, it's okay," Max was saying soothingly, "She's one of us. She's from the school. Show them."

I unfolded my wings and fluttered them gently behind me, knocking a handful of papers to the floor. They were all too enthralled in staring at my wings to notice the mess. "My name's Lina. Jeb brought me here. There were actually twelve of us human-avian hybrids, in the beginning. Us other six were kept in different area of the school, with different whitecoats. We weren't supposed to know about each other, but Jeb wanted to save all of us. He tried to save my flock too, after you guys were safe, but he was mostly too late. I was the oldest of my flock and the last too, except for Jimmie. Jimmie was in too much pain to move. He's probably died by now." I tried not to cry and busied myself with continuing my story. "I lost Jeb on our way to the house we'd all live in together, but he disappeared. We'd just stopped to spend the night in a tiny motel that Jeb said was safe, too remote for Erasers to track down. He'd told me where you were so it was only a matter of time before I showed up here. All that happened about a week ago." I waited for them to process it, just as I had with Max. Slowly they nodded.

"Lina doesn't know what happened to Jeb, and I'm sure her past as well as the journey here are sore spots for her, so we're not going to ask too many questions, okay guys?" Max said with a stern look at them all. "I've decided we're going to let Lina stay with us. She's a member of the Flock now, so I expect you to treat her like one. Now, there's just a few questions I'd like to ask of Lina, just so that we can get a few more things straight. Firstly Lina, do you have any information on your family?"

I nodded. "Siblings, but not parents," I said.

"Can you tell us if they're still alive?"

"They are."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just am." I wondered how they hadn't picked up on it yet. My big blue eyes, my curly blonde hair.

"Well, would you care to tell us who they are?" Max prompted gently.

"Angel and Gazzy," I said so quietly that only she could hear me.

Max looked even more shocked than when I told her about Jeb. For long moments she stared at me until Iggy interrupted, "Um, anyone wanna tell the blind guy what's going on?"

"Max is staring at Lina like she's from Mars. I'm guessing Lina's answer shocked her," replied Fang, seeming to notice that Angel was frozen too, having read my reply in my mind. Actually, she probably read it from Max's. I couldn't get a read from her mind, which probably meant that she couldn't see inside my head either.

At that moment Angel came forward and hugged me hard. Everyone else was baffled. "What's Angel doing?" Iggy asked tensely.

"Um…she just hugged Lina," answered Nudge.

"_Why?_" asked Fang.

"Just look at Lina," Max said quietly, "Who does she remind you of?"

Silently, three pairs of eyes looked from me to Angel, me to Angel. "Angel," whispered Nudge, "She looks exactly like Angel." Fang nodded slowly.

Gazzy's mouth was agape as he whispered, "Big Sis?" and the next thing I knew he too had his arms encircling my waist. _How? How did they get Lina, me, _and_ Angel? Who cares? Our whole family is together now! _I heard him think. Max gently reached behind me and unclasped their hands. Gazzy and Angel stepped back, beaming.

"SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP CAN _ANYBODY_ TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?" Iggy burst out.

"Oops. Sorry, Iggy," Nudge said apologetically, "Since you can't see Lina I'll describe her to you. You remember what Angel looks like, right?"

"Yes," Iggy said somewhat irritably, "Blonde curls, blue eyes."

"Well…Lina has all that. And similar facial features, too."

Iggy was quiet for a moment before he raised his hand in the air toward me and asked slowly, "May…I?" I nodded. Silently, Iggy brushed the tips of his sensitive fingers over my face, feather light. As his fingers traced the shape of my lips, a funny feeling came over me. Watching him, not moving, it suddenly dawned on me how cute he was. _Okay, _whoa! _Where did that come from? _I wondered. I was tempted to shake my head to clear it, but Iggy hadn't withdrawn his hand yet. After a minute, he lifted his fingers from my face and said quietly, "She…her face is just like Angel's. And Gazzy's too, a little, but mostly Angel's."

Max nodded. "She's Angel and Gazzy's older sister." It took a moment for everyone to absorb this, a long moment in which I couldn't take my eyes off of Iggy. After a little while Max broke the silence by saying, "Lina can room with me. There's an extra bed. I always wondered about that bed, but Jeb just said I'd know in due time. I guess that's happened now."

We were all quiet for a few more minutes until Angel asked, "How old are you?"

"Jeb said I was the same age as Max. Fourteen, older than Iggy, Fang, and the others in my Flock," I answered.

Max and the others nodded and then Max said, "Okay guys, bedtime. Nudge, Angel, back to your room. Iggy, Fang, Gazzy, you guys go back to yours. Lina, follow me." As the others started to filter out, Max led me to her room. When we got there she said, "So, Lina. How tall are you?"

"Five eight."

"Try these on," she said, tossing me a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a nightgown. They all fit. "Okay…so we're the same clothing size, which means that you can share my clothes. Here, you can keep that nightgown. I'll move some stuff to the other side of the closet. I'll get the right half, you get the left."

I nodded. "Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome. Now, that's your bed—the one that's not messy," she laughed. I sat down on my bed as she changed into her nightgown. When she was finished changing, she sat down on her bed, facing me, and said, "You know, Lina, it's… hard, being like the mother for these kids. I used to think that I could manage, because I was the oldest, but since you're also oldest—of your Flock, I mean—then maybe some help wouldn't be so bad…." She trailed off.

I nodded and took her hand, which surprised her a little bit. "I was to my Flock what you are to yours. However, I'm a part of your Flock now, and I don't regret it. I'll gladly help you be the leader and the mother to all these guys. It seems like it's gonna be hard, but we can do it together. Boy, those guys think _loud_. How the heck does Angel _stand_ it?"


End file.
